A Bend In the Road
by amy1oM-InnitMarvelous
Summary: Tony wasn't the only one who made it back from Afghanistan; two shot.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** You know for someone who was only in the start of one MCU movie and a brief flashback in another, Ho Yinsen's impact in that universe is a **huge** one. I truly believe that he was one of the biggest reasons Tony turned from the path he was on pre-Afghanistan and became who he is throughout the other movies we see him in.

For this reason, Yinsen is one of my favorite characters in the MCU.

* * *

After one final, unneeded adjustment to his tie, Tony opened the hospital door and slipped into the room. His eyes immediately fell onto the hospital bed where a girl about ten years old laid with far too many wires attached to her. If he thought having his arm in a sling was a troublesome thing, then he had only to look at the scars covering the girl's arms. Further if he felt the need to complain about the arc reactor that was implanted in his chest, Tony only had to remind himself that she was in a comatose state, and the doctors didn't have a clue as to when she would wake up, if she _ever_ did.

A woman's voice speaking harshly in a language Tony didn't understand brought him out of his ruminations, and his eyes went from the girl to the owner of the voice. The woman made it clear that she was talking about him to the man she was seated beside, her resentful eyes never leaving Tony's, and he definitely didn't need a translator to understand she wasn't happy with his presence in the room.

Her resentful eyes never left him, Tony knew that woman was clearly speaking about him to the man she sat beside, and he didn't need a translation to know what she was saying. The man looked at him, and smiled apologetically as though he believe Tony could understand what she was saying.

The woman finally addressed him in broken English, "You are not welcome here, Mr. Stark!"

"Marwa!" Her name was followed with a series of words that once again Tony could not understand.

Her eyes turned at last from glaring at the billionaire to the man beside her, "Do not ask me to apologize to him! It's because of him everyone we love is either dead or lying hurt in a bed!"

"That is not true, Marwa! You know that it is not!"

"But it true!" she retorted. "Where do you think those-" she spat out a word in her language, likely a profane word if Tony was any judge of the other man's reaction, "got the weapons from?" She looked in back at the billionaire adding, "The weapons they used when they butchered _your_ wife, and sons, and daughter? Or have you forgotten that, brother?"

Tony dropped his head, unable to take the pain and the anger in the woman's eyes any longer. "I shouldn't be here. I'm sorry," he said quietly, and quickly left the room. He stopped just outside the door, berating himself, wondering what he had been thinking as he listened to Yinsen clearly argue with his sister.

When the voice abruptly ceased, Tony continued down the hallway, hoping to avoid either one of them should they choose to exit the room. Sure enough, a moment later the door opened, and a split second later he heard footsteps behind him.

"Mr. Stark!"

He didn't wait for Yinsen to catch up, but instead kept on walking towards the elevator, and that is where the other man caught up with him.

"Mr. Stark-"

"Please don't call me that!" Tony said, mashing the down button hard.

"Then what should I call you?"

"Tony is fine."

"But I cannot possibly call you by your given name."

He looked at Yinsen, "Not even after everything we went through together in that cave?"

The elevator door opened before Yinsen could answer, and several people poured out onto the floor, delaying his answer further. When the last person had cleared out, Tony stepped inside, and began pressing the button for the ground floor. But the other man wasn't about to let him get away that easily and got into the elevator too.

The ride down would not be a long one, but the Afghani doctor was determined to say his piece, "I am sorry for what my sister said to you."

Tony shrugged, "Why? It was nothing but the truth."

"But you did not kill our family, Stark," Yinsen said quietly. "It was the Ten Rings who murdered them, not you."

Suppressing a sigh of annoyance at the man's refusal to call him by anything but his family's name, he said instead said, "But whose weapons did they use when they came to your village? You can't tell me that they were not from my company! I saw the crates, Yinsen! Stark Industries was written on almost everything in their weapons cache!"

"Yes, the weapons they used were made at your company by your people, and yes the weapons had your name written all over them. But, Stark, in order for those weapons to be able to kill anyone, they needed men to aim them and then pull the trigger. You were not one of the men who did this to my family, nor to my sister's."

"You really don't blame me for what happened to your family?"

"No, I do not."

"Why?"

"Because I refuse to be like those men who murdered my family. If I blamed you for what they did, Stark, then I would become filled with hatred. I will **not** be like them. I will **not** dishonor the memories of my loved ones in that way."

Tony could only stare at him for the mere seconds it took for the elevator's doors to open and a few more people joined them. He took the opportunity to exit, not caring whether or not he was actually on his intended floor. With the entrance of the other people onto the elevator, he had hoped that Yinsen wouldn't be able to see him exit off of the elevator, but soon realized that it was a hope that he had made in vain.

"Stark!"

Tony kept walking, hoping that his lack of response would give the other man a hint.

"Stark!"

When he noticed all of the eyes turned in their direction, he was grateful that they were in a military hospital. Still with a roll of his eyes, Tony stopped, and waited for the scientist catch up to him.

"You're way more forgiving than I could ever be. I know if I were you, I would never be able to forgive me."

"Then perhaps it is fortunate for the both of us that you are not me and I am not you, hmm?"

"Uh yeah, I guess it is. So, why did you uh follow me anyway?"

"Why did you come to my daughter's room?"


	2. Chapter 2

" _Why did you come to my daughter's room?"_

Tony looked around, then replied, "This isn't a conversation I want to have out in a public area."

"Then let us go somewhere more private," Yinsen replied, pointing towards a nearby door. "We could try the stairwell perhaps?"

"Alright."

Yinsen led the way out into the stairwell, and waited to speak until the door was firmly shut behind them. "I will ask you again about why you came to my daughter's room?"

Tony shrugged, "I wanted to see how you… how your daughter was doing?" His answer sounded weak even to him.

"I am the same as before, as is my daughter."

"The doctors haven't told you anything different about her condition?"

Yinsen shook his head, "They have told me nothing new except that if Bahiyya comes out of the coma, they believe that it is very likely that she will need special care for the rest of her life. They do not believe she will be the same person that she was before all of this happened."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thank you but I still have my daughter after they led me to believe that they had slaughtered my entire family. She may not ever be the same as she once was, but she is alive and I am grateful for that."

Tony nodded but didn't say anything.

The other man smiled, "Now why don't we talk about the reason why you really came to see me?"

"I uh came to see you because I think that you should go back to the U.S. with me."

"Would your country's authorities allow that?"

"They would if I tell them I'll take responsibility for you while you and your family are staying there."

Yinsen regarded him a moment then said, "I thank you, Stark, but I cannot accept your offer."

"Why not?"

"Because with the special care my daughter is likely to require, your offer would become a great act of charity since I do not know if the authorities would allow me to work. As much as I appreciate the offer, I cannot accept it."

"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that you'd also be able to work at Stark Industries."

"I do not intend offense when I say this, Stark, but I will not work for a company whose primary mission is the manufacturing and selling of weapons."

"But see, that's the thing. Once I get back home, that isn't going to be our primary mission or even secondary mission anymore."

"What precisely are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is I am going to shut down the weapons division when I get home."

"Won't that create a huge vacuum within your company, Stark?"

"Without a doubt but I am also planning on expanding all the R&D departments to fill the void left by the weapons division, and that's where I'd want you. In one of those departments, the R&D I mean, and you could pick any one of them you want to work in!"

"Putting the cart before the horse a little, are you not? After all I have yet to agree to moving to the United States yet."

"My point is, if you agree to come back to America with me, you'd be given a place to where you'd be able to do some meaningful work, along with the means through it to take care of your daughter, and your sister too, that is if she decides to come as well. Your sister is a widow, right?"

Yinsen nodded, "Correct. Her husband and children all died in the same attack that claimed the lives of my family. But she may choose to return to our country, and if she does I cannot stop her."

"Do you have any other family left Does she?"

"No, we do not."

"Then why would she go back to Afghanistan?" Tony asked, puzzled.

"I think you know why, Stark."

"No, I don't think - oh. It's because of me isn't? Your sister would take being away on her own on the other side of the world away from the only two family members she has left if… if it means getting away from me because unlike you she does hold me responsible for what happened to her family."

There was no need for Yinsen to answer that with words when the look on his face was all the confirmation that Tony needed.

"Then are you willing to accept my,,, offer even if she makes the decision to go back to Afghanistan?"

"Yes, I can." At Tony's surprised look he added, "I must because in America there will be better medical care available for my daughter's condition, whatever that may be."

"But Ten Rings they-"

"Might come after my sister if she returns home? Yes, I have realized that, Stark, but what can I do? I cannot force Marwa to go with us if she does not wish to."

Tony opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. Either way you sliced it, Yinsen was caught between a rock and a hard place, and the billionaire recognized it. He thought about the situation for a moment, then asked carefully, "Does your sister want to back to Afghanistan because it's your home country, or-" he paused, trying to figure out how to word want he wanted to say. "And there's no way of saying this without it sounding the way it is going to sound so I'll just say. Do you think she wants to return home to return home or would she go back to Afghanistan, possibly risk her life, just to avoid having to deal with me?"

"Yes."

"That's what I thought and if that is her reason, then I think I have a solution. From here on out, I'll just remove myself from the equation."

Puzzlement clouded Yinsen's eyes, "I'm don't think I understand."

"I mean if I am the problem, I'll just have Pepper fly here, and she'll help you make the arrangements to get all of you moved back to the States when you're ready for it. You and more importantly, your sister won't have to see my face any more."

"Pepper?"

"Oh yeah, that's right! I haven't told you about Pepper yet! Her real name is Virginia Potts but I call her Pepper. She's my PA and would have my complete authorization to do whatever you would need to make the move over to America as smooth as possible. Would that be enough to get your sister to make the move with you you United States."

"I cannot be certain without presenting this to my sister first, but this maybe an acceptable compromise. I will present this to her."

"And I'll wait here to see what she says," Tony said, and watched the other man exit the stairwell, then pulled out his phone, "Hey, Pep, how's your German?"

* * *

 **AN:** If there is an interest, I may post a brief epilogue to this story.

And if not, this story is done!


End file.
